It’s judgement day in the Europa League as four teams vie for a spot in the final on 16th May in Lyon.
Salzburg trail 2-0 to Marseille, while Arsenal and Atletico Madrid are tied at one apiece ahead of the second legs in Austria and Spain respectively.
Can Salzburg come from behind and become the first Austrian side to win the competition? Will Arsene Wenger’s swansong with Arsenal end in European glory?
Our betting expert runs through both semi-finals.
Atletico Madrid v Arsenal
Antoine Griezmann saw the visitors come away all square from the Emirates despite being down to 10 men for 80 minutes following Sime Vrsaljko’s early sending off last week.
The Gunners dominated the match but failed to capitalise until Alexandre Lacazette gave them the lead, only for the Frenchman Griezmann to level the tie late on, much to the frustration of Wenger.
Arsenal’s away record of late, which has seen them winless on the road in the Premier League in 2018, does not bode well, however they did defeat former European giants AC Milan in the San Siro so all hope is not completely lost.
Understandably, Atletico are 4/6 favourites to come out on top and go into the game having gone 11 games at their new stadium without conceding – a record which stretches back to January.
Arsenal are 4/1 to pick up the win on the night and 9/4 to go through and while it would be nice for the neutral to see Wenger end on a high, I just can’t see it unfortunately.
With that in mind, its hard to look past Antoine Griezmann to grab another goal at 6/5 and help Atletico remain on course to win the competition for a third time.
Salzburg v Marseille
Salzburg will have to overturn a 2-0 deficit if they are to reach the final, after goals from Florian Thauvin and Clinton N’Jie gave the French side the advantage going into the second leg.
They have history in the competition though, having overturned a 4-1 first leg quarter-final deficit against Lazio to make it to the last four.
On top of that, they have won by three or more goals at home in Europe on three occasions, and last tasted defeated on home soil back in November 2016 – a record which spans a staggering 36 games.
All that suggests that backing a home win would be advisable at Evens while they are 5/1 to progress through to the final.
Marseille are 9/4 to pick up the win on the night but only 1/8 to reach the final, while with Thauvin and former West Ham United man Dimitri Payet, who set up both goals in the first leg, the French side have the quality to sneak through.
The most appealing bet to me is for the home side to win on the night, and both teams to score at 11/4.
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